Improvement in projectiles



jectile. xthe circular-edge of said projectile.

J. VOX KAMMERHUEBER, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROJECTILES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. Hi,0ll, dated May 1,15.5.5.

" ful, and important Improvement in Projectiles of Fire-Arms and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being given to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification.

f Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are several transverse sections through theaxis of my improved pro Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through Fig. 6represents a perspective View of that projectile, of which Fig. 4 is avertical section. Figs. 7; 8, and 9 show different manners in which't-he edge of the projectile may be flattened or rounded.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several drawings indicatecorresponding parts.

This invention relates to certain new and important improvements in theshape of the projectile, which shape enables it to be thrown through agreater distance and with greater precision, by the same amount ofmoving power,-than a ball or conoidal projectile of the same weight andmaterial.

My invention consists, first, in giving to the projectile the shape of a1ensthat is to say, of a body, a, bounded on both sides by spherical orotherwise curved surfaces on each side of the same nature; or b, boundedon both sides by spherical or otherwise curved surfaces, on one side ofa different nature than on the other; or c, bounded by the surface oftwo frustums of cones of the same base; or d, bounded on one side by aplain and on the other side by a spherical curved surface;

or e, bounded by a combination of curved and plain surfaces, either onboth sides of the same nature or not, provided the thickness of thelensviz., the greatest distance between the bounding surfaces-be smallerthan the diameter of the circular edge. The circular edge may be madesharp or more or less flattened or rounded.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

If a body moves through a fluid or an elastic fluidas, for instance, theairwith a certain velocity, it will move till the living power, or

the velocity of it, is worked up, provided it does not strike againstanother solid body, and we say the living power of the moving body isworked up by the resistance of the fluid or air in which it is moving.This resistance is the product of the square of the velocity of motionand the largest section of the moving body perpendicular to thedirection of the motion. From that it will be seen that a moving bodywith the same amount of living power, but with a smaller area of sectionin the direction perpendicular to its motion, causes a smaller amount ofresistance, and will there fore move through a greater distance. A ballhas the smallest surface by the greatest contents, but as theresistance, as said above, depends not on the entire surface, it willeasily be understood that the shape of a ball is not the most favorableof a moving body. It must be therefore very important, in respect to thedistance through which a body is to be carried by a certain amount ofmoving power, which shape should be given to such body. The firstimprovement of this kind was the invention of conoidal projectiles. Theyoffer indeed a smaller area of section perpendicular to the direction ofmotion than a ball of the same contents, but their area of section inthe direction of the axisis larger, and therefore any sideward currentof the fluid or air will alter the direction of motion easier. Anotherdisadvantage of the conoidal projectile is that, as the greatest part oftheir contents is in the rear part of their longitudinal 2LXl S,'2Lgreater amount of living power is concentrated in the rear part of theconoidal proj eetile than in the front part, which amount of livingpower presses forward more intensively than that in the front part andcauses theprojectile to turn over, and really it has often been observed that conoidal projectiles arrived at their striking-point withthe thick end in the front and the pointed end in the rear. But a bodyof such shape as described aboveviz., a lens projectile moving in thedirection of its circular edgewill offer in any direction of the planeof this edge the same area of section and a smaller one than a ball orconoidal projectile of the same contents. This is the very reason forusing a lens on the pendulum of chronometers. The greatest part of thecurrents of the air is going in a horizontal direcrection, or nearly so,and therefore a lens projectile with a sharp or little flattened edge ofcircular shape, moving in such a manner that one diameter of thecircular edge is in the direction of the motion and another diameter ofthe edge perpendicular to the first is horizontal, will offer thesmallest area of resistancein the direction of the motion and tosideward currents. This theory is confirmed by experience, as theancient Greeks used a flattened or lens-shaped body as a weapon to bethrown by hand; and as for a sling, in every case a flat stone will beused, and -no ball. But in no case that I know of a lens-shapedprojectile has been used for firearms or their equivalents, because itis too diffi'cult to make a perfectly straight and polished holedifferent from the circular shape. If the lens projectile is bounded onboth sides by surfaces of the same nature, it will, thrown horizontally,as soon as the moving-power ceases to act, commence to descend towardthe surface of the earth, forming a parabola, and reach it long beforethe living power of it is worked up by the resistance of the air. But bygiving to the lower surface a shape in a proper proportion differentfrom the upper one, the

evil above mentioned can be avoided entirely, or nearly so, so that themoving body thrown horizontally will, as soon as it leaves the barrel,ascend, more or less according to the difference of the shapes of bothsurfaces, till about half the way of the entire distance through whichit will be carried, and from that point commence to descend'till itarrives again in the level of the beginning of its course, where most ofits living power is worked up by the resistance of the air, and then itwill fall down in a direction not very different from the perpendicular.As my lens projectile is intended only to rotate in the direction of itsedge, I am enabled to give to the two bounding surfaces any desiredshape, equal or different.

The advantages of a lens-shaped projectile are therefore: first, it willby the same amount of moving-power be carried farther, as its area ofresistance in the direction of the motion is smaller by the samecontents; second, its direction of the motion will be less affected byany sideward current of air, as the resistance area in any horizontaldirection is the same, and smaller by the same contents; third, it willby the same amount of moving-power be carried farther, as it does notdescend so soon, and will not reach the surface of the earth before theliving power is mostly worked up by the resistance of the air, providedit does not strikeagainstasolid body; fourth,itcan be made of moreuniformity in respect to its material, because it is not as thick aslong and wide; fifth, it will strike where a ball or conoidal projectileof the same contents will pass by, because its horizontal diameter isabout twice as large; sixth, if a lens-shaped projectile is thrownagainst a wall it will effect more than a ball of the same weight,because it works like a chisel or wedge.

My projectile is of such shape as will be generated by turning thefigures l 4 and 7 9, or similar ones, around the axis A B.

As the lens projectile is to be thrown in the direction of its circularedge, it is necessary to construct the cartridge in such a manner thatone-half of the circular edge of the proj ectile is exposed to theexploding or expand ing substance, which acts as moving-power, and forthat reason the cartridge will assume another shape than the common onesfor balls or conoidal projectiles.

This projectile may be made of any material or composition orcombination of materials, hollow or massive.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of myinvention, I will now state that what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The lens shape of the projectile, made of any desirable material orcombination of ma terials, solid or hollow, as above described, andwhich projectile is to be thrown by any exploding er expandingsubstance.

WILDERICII JOS. VON KAMMERHUEBER.

Witnesses:

'I. O. DONN, J OHN DE LA CAMP.

